Mr. Sinclair:

Because it is hidden; that is why.

Mr. Tucker:

The Prime Minister is concealing the report.

Hon. L. B. Pearson (Leader of the Opposition):

Mr. Speaker, may I ask a further supplementary question of the Prime Minister. I would like to know whether or not it is true that this particular report which has been tabled was a secret report from a civil servant to his minister.

Mr. Diefenbaker:

Mr. Speaker, I think my hon. friend has not even read it yet, for it points out that it was a report from the bureau of economics of the Department of Trade and Commerce to the minister for distribution among the members of the cabinet.

Mr. Sinclair:

That is not what you said.

Mr. Pickersgill:

And it was marked "secret" on its face.

Mr. Sinclair:

You hide your reports, and you hide the white paper as well.

Hon. Michael Slarr (Minister of Labour):

Mr. Speaker, on a question of privilege, yesterday at the request of the hon. member for Gloucester I gave a figure for the number of registrations at unemployment insurance offices across Canada. The figure was 796,000.

I note, Mr. Speaker, that there has been a great deal of misrepresentation of that figure. Despite the fact that I emphasized that this figure has never been accepted as an official unemployment figure, there is still a tendency to consider it in that light. In the

Globe and Mail of this morning, for example, the figure is referred to as "796,371 jobless."

I make this point, Mr. Speaker, because a number of members have asked me about the figure, and I want to point out that it was not the policy of the previous government to release it. In fact on numerous occasions members of the previous government made it very plain that the only official unemployment figure was the dominion bureau of statistics figure, which now stands at 386,000. It has a serious effect on public confidence, Mr. Speaker, when a figure which is in fact an operational figure relating to operations of the unemployment insurance commission is persistently referred to as the official unemployment figure.

This government is not responsible for the two sets of figures, nor is it responsible for the stand that the dominion bureau of statistics figure is the only unemployment figure. This was the stand taken by the previous government; and since they established the figures, they should know. I wish hon. members opposite would give the dominion bureau of statistics figure the same ready acceptance they did when they sat on this side. I shall continue-

Mr. Speaker:

Order. I follow the hon. member's question of privilege in so far as it relates to the inaccuracy of the press, but I do not think it extends to a discussion of hon. members on the opposite side and their views.

Mr. Sinclair:

It is the only figure you have ever used in your debates.

Hon. George H. Hees (Minister o* Transport):

Mr. Speaker, on Friday last I promised the hon. member for Charlotte that I would make a statement today regarding coastguard service provided in Canada. Since this same question has been asked by a number of members and there seems to be considerable interest in it, perhaps I might be excused for making a full statement on this matter.

With perhaps two important exceptions, both of which are covered by other government agencies, the substantial fleet of vessels maintained by the Department of Transport as part of its marine service activities performs the same functions as those of the United States coastguard and, indeed, a great many additional functions. United States coastguard activities are devoted in large part to provision and maintenance of buoys, lights and other floating and fixed aids to navigation, and the supply of isolated stations

Inquiries of the Ministry such as lighthouses. They also provide some icebreaking and related navigational assistance.

The Department of Transport maintains a fleet of over 30 vessels, located on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts and in the St. Lawrence and great lakes areas, which also perform these functions, as well as concentrating on coastal icebreaking work and major convoy and navigational assistance in the Arctic areas during the summer season. We have built and are building a number of excellent new vessels to satisfy this requirement.

The department's vessels do not undertake police patrol activities, nor have we any desire to enter the policing field. This function is carried out very effectively by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who also have a number of special cutters operating on both coasts and in the great lakes for this purpose.

Usually references to a coastguard are connected with marine search and rescue, since this is a field in which the United States coastguard receives, from time to time, considerable publicity. In the United States the coastguard has been charged with a major role in the field of search and rescue generally, and performs tasks of search and rescue in coastal areas both for air and marine purposes. Its activities in this field are based largely upon the maintenance and operation of a very substantial fleet of specialized aircraft, supplemented as well, where the need arises, by its coastal vessels.

In Canada this function is performed by the Department of National Defence through the Royal Canadian Air Force, which has followed generally the same course as the United States coastguard in developing specialized aircraft and personnel to assist in the matter of search and rescue, in fact on an even broader basis than in the United States because the Royal Canadian Air Force, in its operations, covers not only coastal areas but inland territory as well.

Moreover, the R.C.A.F. search and rescue keeps in touch with various vessels operated by the various government departments, as well as private vessels, so that in co-ordination of marine activities they are in a position to carry out the same function as the United States coastguard.

To provide a fleet of special vessels solely for marine search and rescue work in Canadian waters would be a large and expensive undertaking-

Mr. Sinclair:

That is what you used to advocate, though.

Mr. Hees:

-and it should be remembered that a very efficient organization is now maintained

Mr. Sinclair:

Sure, sure.

Inquiries of the Ministry